Your Golden Circle Of Fun

Question: How far will you go for a days fishing?

Answer: it varies
Some of you will travel 8 or 10 hours and not bat an eye. Some may travel the world without a second thought. 
But what about a days fishing with your kids, or maybe a buddy?
You dont need to mount a safari for this kind of fishing, and costly travel is hardly involved in such trips. 

But how far should you go?

My friend, Jeff Abney, says 50 miles is his limit, and he doesn't like to drive more than an hour. Me, I'm somewhere below that.... 
Ideally, I'd like to wake up each morning overlooking a pond, and never leave the breakfast table to catch fish.
But, somewhere in between is a happy medium.

Personally, I think 50 miles is a bit much.

I dislike trading, “window time” behind the wheel, for fishing time. 
So, I set my limit at 30 miles, give or take.
You can do that in 30-50 minutes of driving, depending on conditions.
You won't burn up a barrel of gas going that far and, as gas prices inevtiably rise again, that can matter.
You can also be home comfortably before dinner in that time frame.

Mapping It Out

So, assuming that you're willing to exercise a little, "travel self-discipline," what are your chances of finding a good place to fish within 30 miles?

At that question, some of you are probably saying - "My chances would be terrible. There's no place around here to fish!"

I asked myself that same question and, to find the answer, I got out a road map of my state, South Carolina. 

You remember maps, right...those folding sheets of paper with all the lines and names on them?

With map spread on the kitchen table, I put on my glasses, and took a long, close look... and found more waterways than I could count. 

Moreover, that is strictly the bigger blue blotches and lines that represent "water" on the map.

Before long, I was overwhelmed and reminded of the old joke:

Q. How do you eat an elephant?

A. One bite at a time.

Seriously, this was a lot of water to take in, and I soon came back to my purpose – finding fishable  waters within a 30 mile driving limit. 

Refine the Search

It's mesmerizing to look over a map, but I had to narrow down my search. 

And for that I turned to another arcane piece of equipment: a dividing compass.

To use one of these, you set the compass for a circular radius by spreading it open against the map's scale of miles, to the number you want... and you're set. 

30 miles – BINGO!

But where to start?
Why, where I always begin, of course... at home.
I found my homes location on the map, and placed the pointy arm of the compass there.

Then, I spun the marking arm of the gadget around that point.

The result is a circle that spanned 30 miles in any direction. 
Now I was getting somewhere. 

The ENTIRE map showed me a zillion places in my state where I MIGHT fish, but now I could focus on those within practical reach of my front door.

I now had what I've started calling my, "Golden Circle Of Fun!"

Rivers

Within 30 miles of my little house on the edge of town, there are SIX major rivers

Each of these has it's own special character. 

Some are cold and clear, home to trout and smallmouth. 

Another is a languid, turbid flow, choked with driftwood and home to nice catfish. 

One is mostly a wide slow creek; its a bluegill haven.

The Edisto River deserves special mention, as this gem is the last undam'd blackwater river in the US. 

It is slow moving, dark like strong coffee, and flows through steaming, primeval swamps across one side of my 30 mile circle. It was my primary stomping grounds back in the day, and I still have a soft spot for its knobby roots, and murky forests.

Not to be forgotten are the many smaller creeks and streams that make up the watershed of these larger flows. 

Nowadays people call them, “blue line fisheries,” as their course is marked on maps as a blue line.

Most are accessible at road crossings, and nearly all have some bit of fishable water that can be reached from these roadways. 

Where they pass through cities and towns, you may find many such access points. 

One I like actually backs up to the local Goodwill parking lot!

Lakes and Reservoirs

My state has 14 major lakes and reservoirs, two of which lie within my 30 mile circle. Both are renowned fishing and boating meccas.

One of these hosts a Bassmasters/FLW pro-fishing tour stop, and is one of the premier striped bass and crappie lakes in the Southeast. At 85 square miles, and five hundred miles of shoreline, it is also big... locals call it “The Freshwater Coast.” 

10 miles above the first, as the crow flies, is the other within my circle.

Together, these two account for 100 square miles of accesible water and form a killer, one-two punch for big lake fishing.

Numerous ponds, bank and pier sites also fall within my 30 mile limit.
Some are pay lakes, some are public, most are just fine for a days fishing.

Speaking of pay lakes, there are 4 within my 30 mile circle. Most charge a flat daily fee to fish, and a couple charge you for the weight of the fish you catch... catfish, of course.

In connection with the big lakes, I count 11 public-access bank and pier sites, alone, in my circle.
Thats ELEVEN. How much fishing could you do with these?

Ponds and More
No area fishing outlook would be complete without mention of the many private ponds scattered around my Golden Circle of Fun.

To say there are a lot would be a gross understatement; hundreds, if not thousands is more like it.

Being privately owned, they require permission to fish. If you can screw up the confidence to ask for and receive that, however, well...its very likely you could spend your entire life fishing only these bodies of water.

There really are that many of them.

How About You?
Believe it or not, there are even more excellent sites if I was to occasionally stretch my junkets out to 50 miles. I'm not going to detail them all, because you already get the idea.

Even more incredible, this is bound to overlook some portion of the total fishing water available within 30 miles. 
And to be perfectly honest, this exercise was as much for me as for anyone. 

I'm calling it a reminder of how good I have it, and it may lead to an actual list that I can work from.

Can you do this same thing where you live? 
Of course you can, and I hope you will. 

The center of your circle is your own home. All you have to do is scribe your own Golden Circle of fishing fun around it. 

You just might be surprised (and delighted) to discover how much good fishing water exists within an hour or so driving time of your own kitchen table!

Thanks and Tight Lines,

David
Palmetto Fly n Fish
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